Early Mobilization in Older Adults With Acute Cardiovascular Disease

The EM-HEART study is a prospective, multi-centre stepped wedge cluster randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a pragmatic early mobilization (EM) program to improve patient-centred and clinical outcomes in older adults with acute CV disease. There will be 256 participants ≥60 years old with acute CV disease enrolled at 6 participating Canadian hospitals. The study will investigate whether EM improves functional status during admission, as compared to usual care, and whether this leads to improved health-related quality of life post-hospitalization. Functional status will be measured with the validated Level of Function Mobility Scale. The primary outcome will be the Short-Form SF-36 physical component scale score at 1-month post-hospitalization. Secondary outcomes include functional status and hospital readmission at 1-month post-hospitalization.